Should Israel reduce its massive affirmative action for Arabs?

Participant

<b>Some excerpts on Israel’s afurnative action [ preferential treatment] for Arabs over Jews</b>

Dinstein, Yoram. Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, Volume 15 (1985). (2020). Netherlands: Brill, p. 95:

… affirmative action has been included among the claims or proposals intended to improve the situation of the Israeli Arabs . For example , the Histadrut Department for Arab Affairs recommended measures of affirmative action..

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Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Report Submitted to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives and Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate by the Department of State in Accordance with Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended. (1995). United States: U.S. Government Printing Office, p.1172:

In other developments , the Government passed legislation banning discrimination in employment, as well as legislation mandating affirmative action for women and Israeli Arabs.

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Can Arabs Buy Land in Israel?
by Alexander Safian
Middle East Quarterly
Dec. ’97, pp. 11-16

… State-owned lands. Israeli Arabs have equal access to state-owned land—four-fifths of the entire country—both in theory and in practice. Indeed, about half of the land they cultivate is directly leased to them by the Israeli government through the ILA. Moreover, when it comes to residential land, the ILA sometimes offers Israeli Arabs more favorable terms from than it does to Israeli Jews. Thus, the ILA charged the equivalent of $24,000 for a capital lease on a quarter of an acre in new Jewish communities near Beersheva while Bedouin families in the nearby community of Rahat paid only $150 for the same amount of land.
In a different case, when a Jewish policeman from Beersheva, Eleizer Avitan, applied to the ILA to lease land in a Bedouin community under the same highly subsidized terms available to the Bedouins, the ILA refused to lease him land there under any terms, so he sued. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ILA, saying that what might be viewed as ILA discrimination against the Jewish citizen Avitan was justified as affirmative action for Bedouin citizens…

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Israeli Arabs: Government Action in the Arab Sector
(February ’00)
Jewish Virtual Library.

… A number of these Ministries have already implemented affirmative action policies. For example, the Ministry of Education committed itself to completing its five-year plan for Bedouin in the South within three years (instead of five, as originally planned). The Ministry also intends to establish a college for Arabs, to ensure that the departments allocate at least 25 per cent of funds from their budgets to Arab education (a higher proportion than that of Arabs living in Israel) and to establish ten cultural centers in Arab villages…

The Director Generals’ Committee was assigned the responsibility of devising a program of action for the development and advancement of the Arab sector, and drawing up a cooperation framework involving the various government ministries. This program will include the raising of resources and promotion of investment, while applying an affirmative action policy in the areas of housing, employment, industry, transport, infrastructures, agriculture, and education in the non-Jewish sector…
In addition, the Ministerial Committee dealing with Arab citizens has been operating in the following spheres:

Local Authority Budgets – At the end of December 1999, Government representatives reached an agreement with the heads of the Arab local authorities, and brought to an end the protracted strike which had been a result of budgetary shortages. The Government committed itself to the establishment of a four-year affirmative action plan which would reduce the inequality affecting the Arab sector. Short-term plans were approved for resolving problems related to the regular budgets, the development budgets for the Arab Authorities and recovery programs for the covering of deficits.
Illegal Construction – The Chairman of the Ministerial Committee, Matan Vilnai, declared that “the application of Israel’s policy concerning illegal construction in the Arab sector has failed, and other solutions must be found”. The Committee has requested that the Ministry of the Interior concentrate all decisions of previous governments concerning the application of the policy regarding illegal construction, and that it examines the monitoring methods used by the Ministry of the Interior, in order to revise the policy of the demolition of homes…

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Israeli Arabs: Expectations And Realities

Gerald B. Bubis, Jerusalem Letter / Viewpoints. No. 478 4 Sivan 5762 / 15.05.02

Israeli Arabs — A Growing Time Bomb

The riots by Israeli Arabs in October 2000, which took place in conjunction with the outbreak of a renewed wave of Palestinian violence against Israeli Jews, resulted in the deaths of 12 Israeli Arabs (and one from the West Bank) in confrontations with the police. The widespread rioting shocked the Israeli Jewish community and the Arabs even more…

According to the Ministry of Education, there is a five-year plan for the Arab sector that relates to all aspects of educational activity: increasing the number of pupils entitled to matriculation certificates, reducing dropping out, as well as adding study hours, increasing the auxiliary staff (psychologists, counselors, truant officers), enhancing science and technology education, and promoting special education services. Furthermore, there is an affirmative action plan with regard to construction and development of school buildings. Some 2,000 new classrooms have been allocated for 2001, of which 585 classrooms are intended for the Arab, Bedouin, and Druze sectors. Furthermore, among the non-Jewish population, the number of persons with little or no formal education (0-4 years of schooling) has decreased from 29 percent in 1980 to 12 percent in 1999…

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The Rise Of Tikkun Olam Paganism

Jewush Press, 23.01.03

… But does anyone today seriously believe that liberals and leftists only promote causes that are “socially just” and moral? Suppressing school choice and supporting Palestinian terrorism, affirmative action apartheid, and many other liberal causes promotes injustice and immoral outcomes…

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No Holds Barred: A Frank Conversation With Steven Plaut

Jewish Press, 30.01.03.

Israeli universities have all adopted pro-Arab preferences and quotas in admissions in the name of ”affirmative action,”…

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Israel’s Anti-Democratic Anti-Racism Law

Jewish Press, 30.03.05

But Israel is full of groups advocating discrimination against Jews as part of “affirmative action preferences” and, of course, …

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Social Justice Fetishism

Jewish Press, 19.11.08

And while judges are commanded to protect orphans and widows, they are instructed to do so by applying the laws to them without bias. Poor people do not get to dodge their legal obligations – paying debts, restoring property, etc. – because of some affirmative action-type preference on their behalf.

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More Civil Service Jobs for Arabs

Jerusalem Post 18.01.09
The Rabin Administration initiated an affirmative action program and published tenders in Arabic..

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The Bar Association helps Arabs to be admitted to public positions
Tomer Nir, Srugim News, 25.11.10 (In Hebrew)

In the announcement published by the placement team in the public sector of the bar association, it calls on lawyers from the Arab sector who failed in public tenders to come and receive assistance, out of “the desire to improve the ability of the disadvantaged from the Arab population to meet public sector tenders”. Attorney Lior Ben David: “This is discrimination against Jews.”
Attorney Lior Ben David has serious claims against the Bar Association. Ben David completed his training and was qualified as a lawyer a few months ago, but in the already flooded market of lawyers, he cannot find a job. He has already submitted a resume and faced many different search committees, But he is still unemployed.

He has already managed to get used to the situation where there is affirmative preference for the Arab sector in public tenders. “They had affirmative action in university admissions, when some of my friends had better grades, but they preferred the Arabs, so they also prefer them in the government jobs,” he says bitterly.

In a conversation with Srugim, Ben David (27) says that Arab lawyers receive preferential treatment in the State of Israel. “In the public sector, there is ‘affirmative action’, and there are public tenders that explicitly state that priority will be given to candidates from the Arab sector, let’s not talk about tenders that are tailored for Arabs only and for some reason include the need to know the Arabic language. We are already used to that,” says Ben David and adds “but what the bureau did Every limit has already been crossed.”

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The Impact of Israel’s Class-Based Affirmative Action Policy on Admission and Academic Outcomes
June ’14.
Economics of Education.

Authors:
Sigal Alon
Tel Aviv University
Ofer Malamud

Abstract

In the early to mid-2000s, four flagship Israeli selective universities introduced a voluntary need-blind and color-blind affirmative action policy for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The program allowed departments to offer admission to academically borderline applicants who were above a certain threshold of disadvantage. We examine the effect of eligibility for affirmative action on admission and enrollment outcomes as well as on academic achievement using a regression discontinuity (RD) design. We show that students who were just barely eligible for this voluntary policy had a significantly higher probability of admission and enrollment, as compared to otherwise similar students. The affirmative action program also led to higher rates of admission to the most selective majors. Moreover, after enrollment, AA-eligible students are not falling behind academically, even at the most selective majors. Our results suggest the potential for a long-lasting impact of class-based preferences in admission on social and economic mobility…

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A Quick Note on Netanyahu and Israel’s Arab Citizens

By Reinham Salam, National Review, 18.03.15

I was struck by the following passage from Isabel Kershner’s New York Times dispatch on the recent Israeli election in which she accuses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of railing against Israel’s Arab citizens:

“… Nor did she delve into Netanyahu’s domestic policy record as it pertains to Israel’s Arab citizens. Last fall, Robert Cherry and Robert Lerman, two left-of-center U.S. economists, wrote a short piece for U.S. News on the unheralded success of Israel’s efforts to integrate its Arab citizens into the life of the state:

Certainly, the decades after Israeli statehood were difficult and military rule over Arab communities lasted into the 1960s. But, over time, Israeli Arabs have come to believe that the Israeli government is serving their interests. They are increasingly seeing themselves as Israeli citizens, not as Palestinian outsiders. Affirmative action policies have significantly increased the number of Arabs employed in government agencies. The educational performance of Arab students has improved significantly as well, leading to a substantial increase in enrollment in Israeli universities. More Arab women are employed in professional careers, and Arabs with high-tech training have transformed Nazareth into a hub where numerous national and international companies run production development sites.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prioritized economic development in Arab towns and allocated funds for joint industrial parks in Arab and Jewish towns. Subsidies help firms hire Arab labor, and transportation infrastructure allows Arabs to reach employment sites. These ventures have been so successful that the government has begun setting up industrial parks and employment offices exclusively in Arab towns. In addition, the Israeli government developed a five-year plan for Arab education and established a special unit in the prime minister’s office to promote economic development in the Arab community.

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And maybe Israel does not discriminate against Arabs at all?
Israeli Arabs are not as dangerous as their leaders like to portray them. Despite the claims of deprivation – the state works in every way to integrate them and help them.

Ido Carmel, Makor Rishon, 29.3.15 (In Hebrew)

… the Arab population is also given affirmative action at all levels of the civil service according to Article 15 of the Civil Service (Appointments) Law…

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Holocaust survivor pens letters to IDF general accused of comparing Israel …

Hannah Broad, Jerusalem Post, 09.05.16

… complete academic freedom of Arab-Israelis who “can study at any institution that suits them, and even benefit from affirmative action…

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Obama in Fantasy Land

Rieders Travis Law Firm, 19.07.16.

…. Perhaps President Obama forgot that 23% of the Israeli population consists of Arabs with full rights who have representation in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, roughly equal to their population. Affirmative action programs give Israeli Arabs free education, healthcare, vocational or university training.

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‘Illiterate’ Arabs grabbing Israeli university slots, MK claims

TOI Staff, 27.10.16

…The debate quickly grew tense, and veered off to an argument about affirmative action for Arabs in academia.

“Arab students are getting into the Technion because they’re lowering the minimum requirements due to affirmative action,” Smotrich charged.

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Time to Tell the Truth about the Palestinian Issue

Alan M. Dershowitz, Jewish Press, 04.02.19

… The reality is that Israeli Arabs have more rights than Arabs anywhere in the Muslim world. They vote freely, have their own political parties, speak openly against the Israeli government and are beneficiaries of affirmative action in Israeli universities. The only right they lack is to turn Israel into another Muslim state governed by Sharia law, instead of the nation state of Jewish people governed by secular democratic law. That is what the new nation state law does when it denies Arabs “the right of self-determination in Israel.”

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Arab-Israelis Prefer to Live In A Jewish State

By Connor Graham, Jewish Times, 12.07.19

… Like the U.S., Israel’s affirmative action is designed to benefit the Arab minority. Arab professors teach in virtually all major Israeli universities.

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An Essential “Privilege”

Vic Rosenthal, Jewish Press, 27.07.19

… As a result of affirmative action and other programs, the number of Arab students in Israeli universities has grown 78% in the last 7 years .. In the fields of medicine and education, the number of Arab students is proportional to their representation in the overall population. Go to an Israeli hospital and you will probably be treated by Arab doctors or nurses. Go to the pharmacy and you will almost certainly deal with an Arab pharmacist.
So if they have civil rights and educational opportunities, what don’t they have?
In a word, ownership.

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Likud MK seeks to nix affirmative action for Arab Israelis in academia.

By Danielle Roth-Avneri, Israel Hayom, 23.05.21.

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Arab rioting during Gaza conflict exposes long-simmering issues in Israeli mixed cities

Commissioner Maj. Gen. Amir Cohen.
Ariel Ben Solomon, JNS, 04.07.21

… Cohen also criticized the affirmative-action-like programs in the country that promote Arabs into important positions in the government in City Hall and local bureaucracy, but says that in return for such generosity, “the Jews were betrayed.”

“Many of the Arab youth have become radicalized,” said Cohen, noting much of the rioting was carried out by the younger generation.

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The history of apartheid proves Israel is not an apartheid state.

The apartheid defamation is another example of antisemitic demonization.

Richard D. Heideman, JNS, 22.11.22

…in Israel, there is an official policy of affirmative action administered by the Israeli government aimed at including minority Israelis in all aspects of public life. The Arabs who chose to stay in Israel during and following the 1948 war are Israeli citizens and are entitled to the rights granted to all citizens under the law. Arab Israelis serve in public institutions as ministers, Supreme Court judges, parliament members and governmental clerks. Furthermore, the former parties of the Joint List, an Arab-Israeli political bloc, hold seats in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. For the first time, in 2019, the Joint List endorsed a candidate to become prime minister of Israel.
It is also common to find many Arab Israelis holding only Israeli citizenship. Between 2011 and 2013, Professor Sammy Smooha, a researcher from Haifa University, conducted a poll … according to his findings, when Arab-Israeli participants were asked if they would move to a Palestinian state if it is formed, 65– 77% percent of them replied that they would not.

A walk through the streets, shopping malls and hospitals of Israel will permit one to see and appreciate the integrated society that exists within all of Israel. People of all religions, all races and all beliefs are treated with respect in all public places; have access to all religious places; are protected in their right of prayer and assembly; have full access to healthcare treatment without regard to their race, religion, sexual orientation or beliefs; and enjoy freedoms not known anywhere else in the Middle East… Applying the moniker of apartheid to Israel today is another example of an antisemitic double standard applied exclusively to the Jewish state …

the accusers against Israel who are in the Palestinian territories are obligated to look at their own leadership, and to look inward, as they essentially call for the future Palestinian state to be judenrein—free of Jews.

Who is it that is practicing apartheid?

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South Africa’s gov’t will be held responsible for growing antisemitism – opinion
By Rowan Polovin, Jerusalem Post, 23.03.23

It goes without saying that Israel is everything that BDS claims it isn’t: a beacon and shining light of democracy, with Arabs and minorities well-represented in its parliament and civil society. Israel offers affirmative action policies, remarkable opportunities (obviously including the right to vote) for Arab-Israeli women that are not available anywhere else in the Middle East, and redress for discrimination where it occurs.